I’ve noticed a trend that many journalists and bloggers have picked up on. I wonder whether the South African church has noticed it? And if it has, I wonder what the church has to say about it. Over the last decade, a rising number of South African celebrities have announced their acceptance of an ancestral calling. In 2022, at least ten South African celebrities confirmed that they are now Sangomas. Alongside this trend, cultural narratives are being formed. Thus I wonder where the church is in this conversation.
Many are Answering an Ancestral Calling
The topic of ancestral calling first burdened me about six years ago. I’d started noticing ordinary people around me ‘receiving’ and ‘accepting’ the calling. I call them “ordinary” in contrast to celebrities. However, there was nothing ordinary about this trend to me. Prior to this, I assumed subconsciously that the call is received by older people, deeply steeped in the traditions of our forefathers, living in rural settings. I’m ashamed of this confession. But it’s true. This is probably why I was so unsettled when I discovered that two close acquaintances had accepted an ancestral calling. As young professionals living in South Africa’s bigger cities, they didn’t meet the criteria in my mind.
I’m not hearing the voice of the South African church.
With time, my ignorant categories continued to be challenged. I started noticing the celebrities who had accepted the call to be ‘healers’. (It seems that many modern recipients of the call prefer the term ‘healer’ to the traditional term ‘sangoma’). Over the past few years, I encountered more young people accepting this call. One of them was a family member. So, the burden grew. I needed to understand. But beyond merely understanding this trend, I wondered if the church had noticed.
Has the South African church given fresh thought to this at all? I say “fresh” thought because we all know that the church has a history of demonising African traditions because of western influence. So, I’m more interested in the thoughts of the present day African church. I desire to hear the South African church joining this conversation, because conversations are indeed taking place!
Has the church’s message of eternal life been presented as having no bearings on life in the present?
Many Christians Wrestle with Ancestral Calling
As I listened to stories from young people sharing how they knew they had an ancestral calling, I related to a lot. Their stories have many parallels to mine.
Like some of them, there was an extended period in my life where I was at a crossroads, restless within myself. I had health issues which didn’t get better despite diagnosis and treatment of western medicine. Like many of them, things were falling apart in my life. And, like all of them, I knew in my spirit that God was calling me to a different life. But my journey set me on a path of seeking to grow in my knowledge of God. Theirs led them to ukuthwasa.
What counsel is the church giving when people find themselves in strange, overwhelming situations?
Of course many, if not all, of them believe in God. Most of them have a Christian upbringing and still consider themselves Christians. Many confess that at first their Christian beliefs were in conflict with the ancestral calling. But none, whom I heard, speak of how that conflict was resolved. Presently they seem happy to hold both in ‘harmony’. This should be a wake up call to churches that we’re sleeping on this topic. For it means there are sufferers (and ‘healers’) in the church.
Listening to their stories, I wondered how different my journey would have been had I sought counsel from people with different convictions. My main concern is trying to find where the church is when people are confused, lost, and restless. What counsel, if any, is the church giving when people find themselves in situations that are strange and overwhelming? Is it that the church deals only with certain issues, thus leaving room for other practices such as African Spiritual Healing?
Don’t Fear Questions
I pose these questions because I believe it’s important for the church to engage in these conversations. For, as much as these young healers say that they were chosen for their ancestral calling before their birth and that the signs were there from childhood, I wonder how different their convictions would be if the church had had a voice in their journey of searching for answers to the questions posed by their life situations.
There’s still a lot that I do not know. For a long time, I resisted writing because I thought I first needed to understand everything, before going public with any thoughts. But time is moving. Other voices are speaking. And I’m not hearing the voice of the South African church. So, I write because the burden remains and grows.
Traditions continue to evolve. It is not sufficient that the church spoke once upon a time.
I do not write to cast doubt on African Spiritual Healing. I’m not writing to demonise these practises, or shame anyone who has accepted an ancestral calling. My questions are for the South African church. For we don’t only know about the spiritual warfare we face daily on this side of heaven, but have been graced armour for the battle (Ephesians 6:13). Traditions continue to evolve. It is not sufficient that the church spoke on these matters once upon a time. What does the church have to say today?
